Please note: This necklace is Ready to Ship and will leave the studio in 3 - 5 business days. The chain is 18 inches in length. If you would like a different chain length you must email us with your desired length immediately after placing your order. 

If you purchase this item with any other jewel, please be aware that our jewelry is handmade to order and takes approximately 6-8 weeks to create before shipping, meaning your Ready to Ship jewel will ship with the rest of your order. This cuts down on multiple shipping costs for you, and unnecessary waste for the environment.  

When I first began BloodMilk, it was born out of significant period of grief. A wholly unexpected grief that cleaved my life into a before and after. Previous to this time, I hadn’t truly considered the afterlife, I didn’t grow up with a familial belief or had a religious culture to lean into. This led me to a period of seeking, and I began to become obsessed with Victorian era practices of mourning as well as Spiritualism in tandem to making the first pieces of BloodMilk. I had always wanted to create mourning jewelry and while I always considered ( & still do ) everything I made to be just that, I still wanted to create pieces that used symbolism from that time period. It’s taken me 16 years, but these new jewels are born from that time of intense mourning, a grief that still swims within me like a piece of sea glass: worn smooth with time but still sharp enough to wound when the waves crash just right. Each one of these three new designs were created in collaboration with my husband Aaron Horkey and made in my studio by my team here in Philadelphia.

Charon, the ferryman that carried the shades of the dead across the river Acheron ( in other tellings, the river Styx ) in the Underworld, required payment for the journey. Thusly, family members of the deceased would bury their dead with a coin to ensure Charon had his due. Placing a coin in the mouth of the dead was also thought to have acted as a seal for the soul, to protect it from returning. It was also believed to have acted as sustenance for the journey. Here, the bee coin, of which there is evidence of being used as one of Charon’s Obols, was thought to have provided a ‘sweet afterlife’ or to have ‘sweetened’ the journey through the Underworld. The bee coin found in grave goods was actually a thinner version of a coin used for currency, perhaps that of the coins from the city of Ephesus in tribute to the Goddess Artemis.

Bees were significant to the Greeks, they were a symbol of health, fertility, wisdom, power. They were also associated with healing, as their honey was used to treat wounds. Bees also created hives in caves, which associated them with liminal spaces, thought to be close to the entrances to the Underworld, linking them with chthonic deities. They were also considered to be messengers between the living and the dead, as well as between mortals and the divine.

As a jewel of mourning and remembrance, I’m suggesting honoring your grief with a touch of sweetness, which can mean: remembering a happy memory in a moment of intense sadness, or any other practice you may have that can be couple with the tactile nature of this coin pendant.

Outside of mourning practices, this jewel can be worn as a talisman for sweetness or to embody any of the symbols mentioned above.

*Details* :

- Approximately 19 mm tall 

- Approximately 19 mm in width 

- Shown on Jess on an 18 inch chain paired with the large version on a 30 inch chain

- Seen on Miguel on a 20 inch chain

- Pendant, chain, jump rings, and clasp are all solid Sterling Silver hand oxidized to achieve our favorite shade of gloomy gray and then highlighted to reveal the bright luminous silver beneath

- Last photo shown with the larger version which can be found Here

***IMPORTANT***                  

Visit the Policy Page to make an educated and informed purchase HERE.

If you have further questions, we are always here to serve you in a kind and timely manner: via bloodmilkjewels@gmail.com